Asad123’s Weblog

A year-long project is over. I started reading the Old Testament in May 2007. I read an average of three chapters every day. The version I read was the New International Version (NIV), which I read online (www.ibs.org/niv). Today I finally finished.

The end of the Old Testament contains twelve books about minor Hebrew prophets. There were two verses that I read today which I found particularly enlightening.

Here’s one that I feel many people today can relate to:

Haggai 1:5

⁵ Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. ⁶ You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”

Maybe it’s the current state of the economy that makes this verse ring so true. This verse is talking about a lack of fulfillment, a scarcity of contentment. With the global food crisis, it definitely seems like we have harvested little. I also feel like I eat and eat, but I never have enough. Maybe I need to change my diet or maybe it’s something deeper, but I don’t feel satisfied by food like I used to feel. I’m not having money problems right now, thankfully, but I know many people must feel like their wallets or purses have holes in them.

This next verse strikes me as something that closely resembles the Quran and the Hadith.

Malachi 2:16

¹⁶ “I hate divorce,” says the LORD God of Israel, “and I hate it when people clothe themselves with injustice,” says the LORD Almighty.

Of course Islam permits divorce and even makes it relatively easy to do, but it reminds us that divorce is one of the things that Allah hates most. Also, justice is very important to Muslims as we believe we are commanded to fight injustice in whatever way we are able. I find it interesting that divorce and injustice are paired together in this manner. Maybe the implication is that one major cause of divorce is injustice. When spouses do not give each other the rights they deserve, divorce may result.

Also, the verse doesn’t just say people commit injustice but that they “clothe themselves” with injustice. It is one thing when injustice is an act that you do, but when injustice surrounds you and envelops you as if it is your own clothing, you know you have gone far astray. In today’s society when our clothes are often the product of sweatshop labor and inhumane working conditions, how many of us are guilty of clothing ourselves with injustice? Think about it.

Coldplay Fans, go to www.coldplay.com to get a free copy of their latest single, “Violet Hill.” EMI Music may not be happy with me, but I’m putting the lyrics to the song here. Some of these might not be exactly right. Get the song, give it a listen and tell me if I got it right.

Was a long and dark December
From the rooftops I remember
There was snow
White snow.

Clearly I remember,
From the windows they were watching.
While we froze,
Down below.

When the future’s architectured
By a carnival of idiots on show.
You better lie low.

If you love me,
Won’t you let me know?

Was a long and dark December
When the banks became cathedrals.
And the fog
Became God.

Priests clutched onto Bibles
Hollowed out to fit their rifles.
And the cross
Was held aloft.

Bury me in armor
When I’m dead and hit the ground.
Love’s a pose
That unfolds.

If you love me,
Won’t you let me know?

I don’t want to be a soldier
Or the captain of some siking ship
With snow
Far below.

If you love me,
Why’d you let me go?

I took my love
Down to Violet Hill.
There we sat in the snow
All that time
She was silent still.

So if you love me,
Won’t you let me know?
If you love me,
Won’t you let me know?

(Incidentally, the line about the banks becoming cathedrals may be an homage to U2. One of the songs on U2’s “Pop” entitled “The Playboy Mansion” says “The banks they’re like cathedrals/ I guess casinos took their place.”)

Pundits say that a McCain presidency represents a third term for George W. Bush. Try this quiz to see if you know the difference between Bush and McCain. It’s harder than it looks.

http://www.bush-mccainchallenge.com/

I’m coining a new term, the “defense astrobellic.” It means an argument or speech that is based on any story from the Star Wars universe.  

Here’s an example, in ‘Family Guy,” Peter says, “Strike me down Lois, and I will become more powerful than you can imagine.” This is a paraphrase of what Obi-Wan says to Darth Vader in Star Wars: A New Hope.

Imagine someone comes to your house in a beaten-down jalopy of a car. You could say as Leia said to Han Solo, “You came in that thing? You’re braver than I thought.”

Here’s a pick up line from The Empire Strikes Back, “You like me because I’m a scoundrel. There aren’t enough scoundrels in your life.”

Exrta points for lines taken from The Empire Strikes Back. Demerits for lines from The Phantom Menace.

 I went to Baskin Robbins today to get a 31-cent scoop of ice cream. You may have heard about this from Facebook. If you’re reading this before 10 pm on April 30^th , you may still be able to get some. At first I went to an ice cream parlor on Naper Boulevard and 75^th Street, close to where I live. But when I got there, I took a look at the sign and it read “Kaleidoscoops.” A year or two earlier this particular parlor switched from Baskin Robbins to another company called Kaleidoscoops. It’s not bad, but it’s not Baskin Robbins. So I went home, got online and looked for a local Baskin Robbins location. The closest one was a little over five miles away and I had never been there before.

At the store, the line was huge. There were about fifteen people in line ahead of me. It was like a Soviet bread queue. I had plenty of time to consider my flavor choice. I also decided that while I was there I would pick up a quart of pre-packed ice cream so I wouldn’t be a total freeloader. I felt like something fruity so I got a scoop of Strawberry Cheesecake. For the quart I went with a classic favorite, Cookies n’ Cream with real Oreos.

I’m posting this because I believe no one should be harassed for his or her religion or lack thereof.

AP   Posted: 2008-04-28 12:44:33   Filed Under: Iraq News, Nation News

JUNCTION CITY, Kan. (April 26) — Like hundreds of young men joining the Army in recent years, Jeremy Hall professes a desire to serve his country while it fights terrorism.

Photo Gallery

Chuck France, AP

A Challenge
On Religion’s Role

1 of 4    

Army Spc. Jeremy Hall sued the government, alleging he has been harassed in the military because he doesn’t believe in God. He is known among fellow soldiers as “the atheist guy,” and he has been called a devil worshipper and gay — both of which are untrue, Hall said.

But the short and soft-spoken specialist is at the center of a legal controversy. He has filed a lawsuit alleging he’s been harassed and his constitutional rights have been violated because he doesn’t believe in God. The suit names Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

“I’m not in it for cash,” Hall said. “I want no one else to go what I went through.”

Known as “the atheist guy,” Hall has been called immoral, a devil worshipper and — just as severe to some soldiers — gay, none of which, he says, is true. Hall even drove fellow soldiers to church in Iraq and paused while they prayed before meals.

“I see a name and rank and United States flag on their shoulder. That’s what I believe everyone else should see,” he said.

 

Hall, 23, was raised in a Protestant family in North Carolina and dropped out of school before earning his GED. It wasn’t until after he joined the Army that he began questioning religion, eventually deciding he couldn’t follow any faith.

But he feared how that would look to other soldiers.

“I was ashamed to say that I was an atheist,” Hall said.

It eventually came out in Iraq in 2007, when he was in a firefight. Hall was a gunner on a Humvee, which took several bullets in its protective shield. Afterward, his commander asked whether he believed in God, Hall said.

“I said, ‘No, but I believe in Plexiglas,’” Hall said. “I’ve never believed I was going to a happy place. You get one life. When I die, I’m worm food.”

The issue came to a head when, according to Hall, a superior officer, Maj. Freddy J. Welborn, threatened to bring charges against him for trying to hold a meeting of atheists in Iraq. Welborn has denied Hall’s allegations.

Hall said he had had enough but feared he wouldn’t get support from Welborn’s superiors. He turned to Mikey Weinstein and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.

Weinstein is the foundation’s president and a U.S. Air Force Academy graduate. He had previously sued the Air Force for acts he said illegally imposed Christianity on students at the academy, though that case was dismissed. He calls Hall a hero.

“The average American doesn’t have enough intestinal fortitude to tell someone to shut up if they are talking in a movie theater,” Weinstein said. “You know how hard it is to take on your chain of command? This isn’t the shift manager at KFC.”

Hall was in Qatar when the lawsuit was filed on Sept. 18 in federal court in Kansas City, Kan. Other soldiers learned of it and he feared for his own safety. Once, Hall said, a group of soldiers followed him, harassing him, but no one did anything to make it stop.

The Army told him it couldn’t protect him and sent him back to Fort Riley. He resumed duties with a military police battalion. He believes his promotion to sergeant has been blocked because of his lawsuit, but he is a team leader responsible for two junior enlisted soldiers.

No one with Fort Riley, the Army or Defense Department would comment about Hall or the lawsuit. Each issued statements saying that discrimination will not be tolerated regardless of race, religion or gender.

“The Department respects (and supports by its policy) the rights of others to their own religious beliefs, including the right to hold no beliefs,” said Eileen Lainez, a spokeswoman for the Department of Defense.

All three organizations said existing systems help soldiers “address and resolve any perceived unfair treatment.”

Lt. Col. David Shurtleff, a Fort Riley chaplain, declined to discuss Hall’s case but said chaplains accommodate all faiths as best they can. In most cases, religious issues can be worked out without jeopardizing military operations.

“When you’re in Afghanistan and an IED blows up a Humvee, they aren’t asking about a wounded soldier’s faith,” Shurtleff said.

Hall said he enjoys being a team leader but has been told that having faith would make him a better leader.

“I will take care of my soldiers. Nowhere does it say I have to pray with my soldiers, but I do have to make sure my soldiers’ religious needs are met,” he said.

“Religion brings comfort to a lot of people,” he said. “Personally, I don’t want it or need it. But I’m not going to get down on anybody else for it.”

Hall leaves the Army in April 2009. He would like to find work with the National Park Service or Environmental Protection Agency, anything outdoors.

“I hope this doesn’t define me,” Hall said of his lawsuit. “It’s just about time somebody said something.”

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.

             The news coming out of Texas regarding the polygamous sect has me concerned.  The way the state government has torn apart these families is total injustice. It smacks of religious persecution. Over four hundred children were taken away from the only families they have ever known. Some children have been relocated to places more than five hundred miles away.

              Why should we believe that the foster parents with which these children are placed are better parents than their birth-parents? I know that some foster parents are compassionate, generous people. Yet can we be expected to have faith that Texas just happens to have four hundred sets of parents who are ready, willing, and able to take care of these frightened and likely angry children?  

            Even in the United States where we have so much diversity and so much freedom, it is difficult to be different. As a Muslim, I know this is true for personal experience and from the stories of my friends. The newspapers talk about how people are shocked by the way the women of the sect look and dress. Think about how the members of the sect must feel when they see women in bikinis or teenage boys with mohawks. It is hard to imagine that the sect would be so persecuted if they looked and acted like “normal” Americans. Also, many people are talking about how some of the girls were married at age sixteen. But is it better for sixteen-year-olds to have casual sex with many partners as so often happens in our communities?

For more info:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/24/us/23cnd-polygamy.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1208983286-EImayKwfJnHy49Edji4waQ

Based on popular demand, I’ve decided to analyze the lyrics of “One Week” by Barenaked Ladies. (Brozer, brozer, barenaked ladies are Haram! It’s ok; it’s not that kind of Barenaked ladies.) I took some help from outside sources, i.e. different websites related to song lyrics. Here’s the best global summary of what’s going on in the lyrics:

“This song is about ego and relationships. A couple get into a stupid fight and it is not clear whose fault it is. First he thinks it is his fault, and then he thinks it is her fault, and finally he realizes it is both. During that whole process he cannot stop thinking about the fight, but rather than deal with their problems–the couple just go about their lives, watching television, eating out, etc.” Posted by SongMeanings on www.songmeanings.net

By now you should know the drill. The lyrics will follow with my analysis in parentheses.

Its been one week since you looked at me
Cocked your head to the side
and said I’m angry
Five days since you laughed at me saying
Get that together come back and see me
Three days since the living room,
I realized its all my fault, but couldn’t tell you
Yesterday you’d forgiven me
But it’ll still be two days till I say I’m sorry

(This part is relatively clear. A couple has a fight and the guy concludes that his fault but is too proud to admit it. The phrase, “get that together” is slang for “stop acting like an idiot.”)

Hold it now and watch the hoodwink
As I make you stop, think
You’ll think you’re looking at Aquaman
I summon fish to the dish,
Although I like the Chalet Suisse
I like the sushi
Cause its never touched a frying pan

(This is the Fish Verse. To hoodwink someone is to trick them. Here he is tricking someone by making them think he is Aquaman. Aquaman is a hero in DC Comics who can telepathically summon sea creatures. He is often ridiculed by comic fans because his powers are usually useless. Like Aquaman, the speaker is able to summon fish at will. Chalet Suisse is the French name for Swiss Chalet, a chain of family restaurants in Canada, with some locations in the U.S. as well. Sushi, of course, is raw fish, so it has not been fried.)

Hot like wasabi when I bust rhymes
Big like Leann Rimes
Because I’m all about value
Bert Kaempfert’s got the mad hits
You try to match wits
You try to hold me but I bust through
(Wasabi is a Japanese condiment made out of horseradish that adds a kick to sushi. To “bust rhymes” means to rap as the speaker does quite eloquently through the course of this song. Leann Rimes is a country singer who had a hit album, “Blue” when she was only 13. I think the only reason she’s in this song is because her name rhymes. Bert Kaempfert is a German musician and songwriter who wrote several well known hits including “Strangers in the Night,” “L-O-V-E,” and “Danke Schoen.” “Match wits” may be an allusion to the PBS quiz show, “As Schools Match Wits” or it may mean that he is mentally battling with his girlfriend.)

Gonna make a break and take a fake
I’d like a stinkin’, achin’ shake
I like vanilla, Its the finest of the flavors
Gotta see the show,
Cause then you’ll know
The vertigo is gonna grow
Cause its so dangerous,
You’ll have to sign a waiver
(“Stinkin” and “achin’” are used for emphasis but I’m not sure exactly what they’re emphasizing. Clearly he doesn’t want a shake that stinks. He just wants a “stinkin’ shake.” I think he’s talking about someone coming to one of his concerts – “gotta see the show.” But I don’t know how someone could get vertigo from a BNL show. Maybe crowd surfing? When he talks about it being “so dangerous/ You’ll have to sign a waiver,” he’s mocking our culture and our extreme readiness to take things to court.)

How can I help it if I think you’re funny when you’re mad
Trying hard not to smile though I feel bad
I’m the kind of guy who laughs at a funeral
Can’t understand what I mean?
Well, you soon will
I have a tendency to wear my mind on my sleeve
I have a history of taking off my shirt
(You can tell by the lyrics that the singer is a guy who likes to laugh. Apparently, he laughs at inappropriate times such as when his girlfriend is mad and at funerals. The next part is my personal favorite. He says he wears his mind on his sleeve which is sort of a pun on wearing one’s heart on one’s sleeve, i.e. being emotionally vulnerable. He’s saying he’s an open book and lets people know what he’s thinking. But he says that he also takes off his shirt, which combined with the previous line, seems to imply that he often loses his head.)

Its been one week since you looked at me
Threw your arms in the air and said you’re crazy
Five days since you tackled me
I’ve still got the rug burns on both my knees
It’s been three days since the afternoon
You realized it’s not my fault not a moment too soon
Yesterday you’d forgiven me
And now I sit back and wait till you say you’re sorry
(I don’t think I have to explain what rug burns are. It seems the speaker has changed his mind. While earlier he said it was all his fault, now he’s saying it’s not.)

Chickity China the Chinese chicken
You have a drumstick and your brain stops tickin’
Watchin’ X-Files with no lights on,
Were dans la maison
I hope the Smoking Man’s in this one

(Chickity China is a reference to a prank call by “The Jerky Boys.” The next line which says “you have a drumstick and your brain stops tickin” refers to the H5N1 bird flu which hit Hong Kong in 1998, when the song was written. For those who don’t remember, “The X-Files” was a sci-fi drama on Fox with eerie storylines and a creepy ubiquitous side character known only as “The Smoking Man.” The French phrase “dans la maison” simply means “in the house.”)

Like Harrison Ford I’m getting Frantic
Like Sting I’m Tantric
Like Snickers, guaranteed to satisfy
Like Kurosawa I make mad films
Okay I don’t make films
But if I did they’d have a samurai
(“Frantic” was the title of a 1988 Harrison Ford movie in which he plays a doctor whose wife is kidnapped while the couple is in Paris, attending a medical conference. Sting (a.k.a. Gordon Sumner) was the front man of the band “The Police” and later went solo. He claims to practice Tantric yoga which some have said enables people to have sex for hours at a time. “Snickers” is a popular American candy bar which used to have the slogan, “guaranteed to satisfy.” Akira Kurosawa was a brilliant Japanese film director. His films include “Rashomon” and “Seven Samurai.”)

Gonna get a set of better clubs
Gonna find the kind with tiny nubs
Just so my irons aren’t always flying off the backswing
Gotta get in tune with Sailor Moon
Cause that cartoon has got the boom anime babes
That make me think the wrong thing
(The first three lines in this verse refer to golf, a subject about which I know next to nothing. Apparently the singer wants to get fancy new clubs to improve his game. Any golfers out there, feel free to comment. Sailor Moon is a Japanese anime that features girls with big eyes and large breasts. I think you can see how these would make the singer “think the wrong thing.”)

How can I help it if I think you’re funny when you’re mad
Trying hard not to smile though I feel bad
I’m the kind of guy who laughs at a funeral
Can’t understand what I mean?
You soon will
I have a tendency to wear my mind on my sleeve
I have a history of losing my shirt

(This looks like a repeat of what he’s already said but there is one difference. Here he speaks of “losing my shirt.” Losing one’s shirt means losing everything. I think he’s trying to hint at the fact that he’s bad at relationships and tends to screw up.)

It’s been one week since you looked at me
Dropped your arms to your sides and said I’m sorry
Five days since I laughed at you and said
You just did just what I thought you were gonna do
Three days since the living room
We realized we’re both to blame, but what could we do?
Yesterday you just smiled at me
Cause it’ll still be two days till we say were sorry
(Here the speaker comes to the conclusion that both he and his girlfriend are at fault for the fight that they had. Five days ago seems to be when the fight started, when the speaker laughed at his significant other. The fight is expected to continue for another two days while they wait to admit guilt. Five days plus two days equals seven days.)

It’ll still be two days till we say were sorry
It’ll still be two days till we say were sorry
Birchmount Stadium, home of the Robbie

(He ends by giving a shout-out to Birchmount Stadium which may have puzzled American fans. Birchmount Stadium is located in Scarborough, Ontario. The Robbie is an annual youth soccer tournament. Again, I think it’s basically in the song to complete the rhyme.)

With thanks to:

http://lyrics.astraweb.com

http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=2311

http://www.slangcity.com/songs/one_week.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Week

Abbreviation is a long word for something so short.

In Latin, “rectum” means “right” but it sounds so wrong.

“Guapo” in Spanish is an ugly word for handsome.

If you’ve purchased groceries recently or if you’ve eaten out at a restaurant lately, you may have noticed something. You’re paying more than you used to pay.

There is a global food crisis. Earlier this month, World Bank president Robert Zoellick announced that the U.N. World Food Program needs at least $500 million (€319 million) in additional food aid to meet emergency demands. He told the United States, the European Union, Japan and other developed countries in no uncertain terms, “to fill this gap or many more people will suffer and starve.”

An estimated 33 countries face the prospect of social or political unrest due to high food prices. Think about that. Political regimes could topple over the price of bread.

According to ONE, the Campaign to Make Poverty History, “Rising food prices are dealing a crushing blow to the world’s poorest people, who spend around half of their income on food. The current situation threatens to exacerbate the twin crises of hunger and malnutrition; already, under-nutrition contributes to almost half of all child deaths and more than 20% of maternal deaths.” Consider spending half your income on food. Not an ipod, not the iphone, not i-anything; half your income paying for food. And think about how needless these deaths are. These children aren’t dying of some incurable disease. They’re dying simply because they don’t have food to eat.

As Americans we should consider ourselves lucky, for many reasons. We have incredible wealth, amazing technology, and tremendous freedom. Also, we pay the smallest fraction of our income for food in the world, an average of 7.2% in 2006, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But even here, food prices are rising and it is hurting a lot of people. It is especially difficult to people whose jobs are tied to food like bakers and restaurant owners. 

For more info:

A call for donors to help alleviate the problem

http://one.org/worldfoodcrisis/

Information on how the World Bank plans to face the crisis http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/02/business/NA-FIN-World-Bank-Food.php

How the Food Crisis is affecting Americans

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080414/inflation_squeeze.html?.v=4